DAL 23, NYG 16: Cowboys Personnel Groups Explode In the Second Half

Sep 26, 2022
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Cooper Rush

After failing to capitalize on drives in the first half, the Dallas Cowboys offense woke up and scored two touchdowns and a field goal to hold off the New York Giants–and win 23-16. In the first half, Cowboys QB Cooper Rush was efficient as he spread the ball around, but he couldn’t find the endzone.

However, he moved the chains more efficiently, and his highlight of the game was the first drive of the fourth quarter– when he led an 11-play, 89-yard drive and threw an absolute dime to WR CeeDee Lamb for a touchdown.

Although it was only a one-yard touchdown, Rush’s pass and Lamb’s one-handed spectacular catch was the play of the game, and their touchdown was the final punch toward the Giants.

You could say that his catch made up for his first-half drops, but man, his catch made the NFL world go crazy. (I never screamed as loud as I did after his catch. Lamb is him.)

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1574592068982292485?s=20&t=3mxDr52PZifl_n22piTCPQ

Shifting to the defense, the Cowboys upped the pressure in the second half and landed several sacks. Although they gave up a touchdown and gave the Giants hope, the defense held up for the rest of the game—and held their offense in check.

The MVPs of the game were arguably QB Cooper Rush and DE Demarcus Lawrence, as both players came in clutch with their performances. With Rush, he now sits 3-0 as a starter, and he continued to perform well in QB Dak Prescott’s absence, as he finished 215 yards and one touchdown.

On Lawrence’s side, he silenced the haters who criticized him weekly for his lack of production and finished with three sacks. However, beyond those two, if there were game balls to give out to certain players, I would give them to safety Donovan Wilson and RB Tony Pollard.

Wilson led the team with eleven tackles, and Pollard was a running machine and finished with a team-high 105 rushing yards. Both were crucial in certain situations, but it was an all-around team effort win.

The Cowboys return to action at noon this Sunday against the Washington Commanders and will look to start 2-0 in the NFC East.

Rocky Garza Jr

Rocky Garza Jr

Rolling with the Boyz since 96'. Chop up sports with me on Twitter @rockssjr.

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Lawrence C. Baker
Lawrence C. Baker
Sep 27, 2022 3:46 AM

That was a very good game Rocky. Troy Aikman commented that any team in the league could’ve signed Cooper Rush after he was cut by Dallas after training camp. Cooper is doing a food job getting the ball out of his hands quickly. Also he seems to make his reads really quick. I just wonder if Jerry and Stephen Jones us sorry they gave Dak Prescott such a big contract?

Rocky Garza Jr
Rocky Garza Jr
Sep 27, 2022 1:19 PM

Hey Lawrence, I agree CR has been looking good. Regarding the Jones regretting about Prescotts, I don’t think they will ever admit if they do–but they probably regret paying him so hefty. While I would never tell another person or player how much they are worth, there was a time when the FO could have paid him less, but they waited. We will have to see what happens.

Lawrence C. Baker
Lawrence C. Baker
Sep 27, 2022 3:49 AM

Kelvin Joseph should go ahead and get busy with his Rap career because he sure as he’ll isn’t an NFL caliber Cornerback! That dude is a true STINKER!!!!

Lawrence C. Baker
Lawrence C. Baker
Sep 27, 2022 3:50 AM

The only Cornerback the Cowboys have that’s worse than Kelvin Joseph is Nashon Wright!!!

Cowboy Fan Ed
Cowboy Fan Ed
Sep 27, 2022 6:55 AM

Great win! I’m just about there on apologizing to CR! I thought the coaching staff did another good job in the game plan setting up CR to be successful! The only question I had was when we were inside the five and had first down ..we went empty and threw the ball instead of trying to blast it in but it all worked out! CD is going to have to make those easy catches if he wants to be the number one guy!! The defense really played well but we have to get more disciplined and cut out the stupid bonehead Penalties! One more thing …… I’m getting to where I’m feeling some confidence in CR and I’m Liking it! Keep rolling Cowboys!!

VAM
VAM
Sep 27, 2022 9:40 AM

Another great win for our Cowboys with Rush at QB. Score could have higher if Lamb doesn’t drop that perfectly thrown ball right between the 8s, and Brown doesn’t get mugged in the endzone. And they did so without their starting TE Schultz and their number two WR Gallup, who was expected to play. Very impressed with Rush, who showed poised, accuracy and toughness.

The same O-line that get maligned when DP plays, appears to be somewhere between a pretty decent to a pretty good group when CR is at the helm. The rookie LT Smith played well. Other offensive player who showed well, TP (nice burst), NB. CeeDee (except for that drop). Defensively, DL, DA, and DW, all played very well. Impressed with Wilson who was all over the field. Now on to Washington.

VAM
VAM
Sep 27, 2022 10:00 AM

Great Cowboy win. Score could have been higher if CD (who played well otherwise) doesn’t drop that perfectly thrown ball, and Brown doesn’t get mugged in the endzone. Very impressed with Rush, who showed poise, accuracy and toughness. All without starting TE DS (two ROOKIES replaced him) and MG, who was expected to play. Pollard, Brown, T Smith showed up well.

The same O-line that is much maligned when DP plays, is playing pretty damn good with CR at the helm. Hmm.

Defensively, DL, DA, DW showed very well. Impressed with Wilson who was all over the field. Now on to Washington.

Rocky Garza Jr
Rocky Garza Jr
Sep 27, 2022 1:17 PM
Reply to  VAM

Hey VAM, I agree. I’m hoping CD can cut down the drops and the team gets overall healthy. It’s exciting to see what they did without some of their biggest playmakers.

ThrowUpTheX88
ThrowUpTheX88
Sep 27, 2022 1:36 PM

Good all around game, defense played great, offense played great really except for the dumb penalties and CD drop ball that LITERALLY hit him in the bread basket, but he made up for it somewhat in 2nd half, hopefully we can clean penalties up but I ain’t gonna hold my breath

EthanC
Sep 27, 2022 1:42 PM

‘m excited to see this D tee off on Carson Wentz. Want to see Gallup and Peters. Also…a Turner and Fihoko sighting. Turpen exploding on returns. And man Dorance Armstrong really looking like this is his break out season. When Schultz, & Kearse come back things might get interesting. Lastly, anyone else wondering where Neville Galimore was yesterday?

lonewolfz28
lonewolfz28
Sep 28, 2022 5:34 PM
Reply to  EthanC

Gallimore had one solo tackle. They were doing a constant rotation on the DL. I saw Hill in there several times. Odighizuwa had a few nice plays, They even had DLaw and Micah rushing from the interior DL. There was even one play where DLaw bounced around to three positions inside before the snap. About the only interior DL that I saw in there quite a bit was Bohanna. He only had one tackle, but he was very active and seemed to be in on more tackles than that.

lonewolfz28
lonewolfz28
Sep 27, 2022 2:55 PM

I wouldn’t give a game ball to Donovan Wilson. Yeah, he had a lot of tackles, but he also missed a few on Daniel Jones, though he’s not alone in that department. They really need to play with more gap discipline. It’s leaving us open to big QB runs, not just against the Giants, but also against Joe Burrow. Wentz and Hurts are going to eat us alive if they don’t fix it or come up with a plan for a better QB spy than Wilson. He just plays too out of control at times.

Speaking of out of control, that’s another reason I wouldn’t give him a game ball. That was a dumb 15 yard penalty. You know there are officials around, especially on the sideline. And even if there wasn’t one standing right behind you when a player tosses the ball toward you, you don’t swat it down. If anything, let it hit you if it looks like they’re throwing it at you. That’s taunting. If it happens, look for an official with a “did you see that gesture”. Maybe you’ll get 15 yards for your own team.

It just goes to show how undisciplined this team still is. It doesn’t help when some of the free agents you bring it are as bad or worse. I’m wondering when they are going to bench Anthony Barr and use an “only break glass in event of an emergency” approach with him. He commits dumb penalties, runs himself out of position, and misses tackles. About the only thing he does halfway decent is occasionally rush the QB. I’d sit him and only let him on the field as a last resort. He’s too old to change at this point. Just use him as insurance.

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